Tuesday Male Beauty

High-Profile Tancredo Presidential Campaign Staffer Outed

A new story on the Gist, a blog by Michelangelo Signorile (http://signorile2003.blogspot.com/2007/06/high-profile-tancredo-presidential.html0, shows the continued hypocrisy of the GOP and yet another case of a self-hating gay working for the enemy. Note how according to Bay Buchanan, one's sexual orientation is a "personal matter," except for when the GOP and its Christianist base are trying to restrict one's legal rights based on sexual orientation. They cannot have it both ways. Here's a portion of the story:

Tyler Whitney (pictured at left via his my space page), the webmaster for the right-wing antigay Colorado Republican Rep. Tom Tancredo's presidential campaign, has been outed by the Michigan gay paper Between the Lines. I had reporter Todd Heywood on the show today. Bay Buchanan, Team Tancredo Senior Advisor and sister of the fire-breathing Pat Buchanan, is defending Whitney, saying, "A person's sexual preference is a personal matter and has nothing to do with the campaign.

"In other words, if he wants to work against his own kind -- for a man who's railed against gay rights and has a zero rating from the Human Rights Campaign -- we're happy to have him!

Whitney, an 18-year-old who is a rising star in right-wing Republican circles (perhaps until now), who also works at the far-right Leadership Institute in Arlington, VA, was involved with the Young Americans for Freedom chapter at Michigan State University (in East Lansing) that is now listed as a hate group by Southern Poverty Law Center. It is the first university-affiliated group to be put on SPLC's hate list, and according to SPLC's Heidi Beirich the reason it was put on the list is because of its use of slurs, a proposal to have the governance of MSU be white supremacist and "its constant immigrant bashing."

Last November, Whitney -- whose father was a speech writer for former conservative Michigan Gov. John Engler, who was no friend to gays -- went to a a YAF-sponsored protest against a pro-gay, pro-trans human rights ordinance and held a sign that said, "Go back in the closet!" Other signs at the protest included "Straight Power" and "Faggotry."

I guess Mr. Whitney's closet has exploded and that he can no longer take his own advice. The bright light of day is the best remedy for rank hypocrisy.

A Warning for Christian Fundamentalists and Their Would Be Victims

Regular readers will know that I consider myself a Christian and try my best to treat others in a true Christian manner. However, I have little use for religious extremists of any variety. The above photo illustrates the danger - at least in my opinion - in taking the Bible literally and as a 100% accurate history. No one can know all of God/Allah's intentions and plans, and to claim otherwise is to be a liar and evidences hubris on a massive scale.

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Incredible Natural Beauty

I mentioned in an earlier post today the wonderful trip I had with my son to British Columbia. I wanted to post a few more photos, including the 21 story waterfall on the road to Whistler (my son took the photo since I have a fear of heights), a fabulous view of an arm of Puget Sound, and a gorgeous beach on the west coast of Vancouver Island.

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CELEBRATING THE FREEDOM TO MARRY ON THE 40TH ANNIVERSARY OF LOVING V. VIRGINIA

Freedom to Marry has a new series of ads being launched in honor of the 40th anniversary of the United States Supreme Court decision in Loving v. Virginia, that struck down laws prohibiting interracial marriages. Then, as now, Virginia was in the intolerant rump of the history of civil rights for all citizens. Freedom to Marry's main web site page is at: http://www.freedomtomarry.org/node.asp?id=3729. To view the five different ads showing prominent couples who could not marry in some states prior to the decision in Loving v. Virginia, please go to the following PDF link. http://www.freedomtomarry.org/images/pdfs/press_releases/FIA_F2M_politico-proof.pdf.

Monday Male Beauty

A Longed for Reconciliation

I want to thank those of you who have been supportive and congratulated me on the graduation invitation situation with my youngest daughter. Words cannot convey how happy I am that the divorce war has not driven her away from me.

I am hoping at some point my son will again communicate with me. His mother’s propaganda seems to have been the most effective with him. Being in the closet until he was 17, caused my relationship with him to never be what I wanted it to be. The glass wall that I erected to protect my secret had the effect of making me always afraid to talk much about my feelings with him. I guess in the end, he thought me unfeeling or aloof at times. Meanwhile, I loved him so much and was so proud of him. Some of my happiest times were on surf trips to Cape Hatteras with him and some of his friends.

But one of the all time best weeks of my life was when the two of us traveled to Seattle and then British Columbia the summer after he graduated from high school. It was a magic week and he and I both fell in love with Vancouver and the Pacific Northwest in general. Driving from Seattle to Vancouver, then to Whistler (the photo above is my son near the summit of Whistler Mountain) and then via ferry on to Vancouver Island was so much fun and I felt so close to him. I really hope that he will come to see his mother’s propaganda for what it is and that I have always tried to do my best by him and his sisters.

Holsinger is a Christianist Liar

The Box Turtle Bulletin (http://www.boxturtlebulletin.com/2007/06/11/431) has a damning analysis of the anti-gay paper written by Chimperator Bush’s nominee for surgeon general. It turns out that, like most of the anti-gay “scientific writings,” Holsinger’s paper appears more like something Paul Cameron would churn out as opposed to a serious medical review. Here are portions of the Box Turtle analysis that demonstrate just how disingenuous and distorted Holsinger’s article turns out to be:

That paper, dressed up as a considered medical opinion backed by a bibliography drawn from professional sources, would likely appear to be rather impressive to the lay reader (as most members of the committee were). But a closer examination of that paper reveals very little of scientific value. Worse, it shows a startling eagerness to pull evidence out of context to provide damning evidence against gay men, while willfully ignoring counter evidence in the same literature which essentially destroys the core of his arguments.

Holsinger’s Scientific Evidence

Holsinger began his “scientific” examination by recounting the reproductive role of male and female genitalia. He then went on to observe that the rectum doesn’t perform such a role, and is, in his estimation, unsuitable for intercourse. He cited Agnew (1986)1 to say:

The rectum is incapable of mechanical protection against abrasion and severe damage to the colonic mucosa can result of objects that are large, sharp or pointed are inserted into the rectum (Agnew 1986.)

As you can surmise from the quoted text, Agnew’s paper deals largely with foreign objects, not intercourse. But before the reader can notice this discrepancy, Holsinger quickly dropped the subject of foreign objects (he will return to it later) to begin a broader outline of conditions “found in homosexually active men.” Holsinger quoted Owen (1985, although the paper is missing from Holsinger’s bibliography):2

Four general groups of conditions may be found in homosexually active men: classical sexually transmitted diseases… enteric diseases… trauma… and the acquired immunodeficiency syndrome (AIDS).

This much is true. These conditions may be found among some homosexually active men. They may also be found in heterosexually active men and women. But to justify his singling out of gay men, Holsinger cited another study to say that STD’s are “strongly correlated to sexual lifestyle,” and presents a large number of statistics for an impressive list of diseases. Unfortunately, the statistics were given without context, leaving the impression that they are representative of all gay men.

But what is that context? It turns out that these statistics came from one lone study consisting of a convenience sample of 365 male patients, all of whom attended a single urban STD clinic in Copenhagen over a seven month period in 1983.3

This is not a representative study at all. It’s not even a representative study of gay men in downtown Copenhagen. It tells us nothing about rural or suburban Danish men. More importantly, it doesn’t tell us anything about gay men who don’t need the services of an STD clinic. It doesn’t even tell us anything about gay or straight men who attend other STD clinics besides the single clinic that performed this study. It is, at best, a snapshot of a small population from one urban center over a short period of time, taken eight years before Holsinger’s paper was written.

This of course means that if you study people with STDs, whether they are gay or straight, you will find people with STDs. Holsinger uses the behavior of one particular sample of men who expose themselves to the risk of STDs to denigrate all gay men (and lesbians!). This study says nothing of those whose “lifestyle” choices do not lead to contracting STDs. And of course, Holsinger’s arguments don’t address whatever responsibility heterosexuals overall have for the 64% of this particular Copenhagen sample who were exclusively straight and were treated for STDs.

After dealing briefly with sexually transmitted diseases, Holsinger introduced the squeamish subject of anorectal trauma, again implying that it is a common condition among gay men. He opened this line of argument by repeating this statement from Bush (1986):4

Consensual penile-anal intercourse can be performed safely. Few anorectal problems and no evidence of anal-sphincter dysfunction are found in heterosexual women who have anal-receptive intercourse. However, forceful anal penetration without lubrication against a resistant sphincter will result in abrasive trauma, causing fissures, contusions, thrombosed hemorrhoids, lacerations with bleeding, pain, and psychic trauma.

Notice what’s going on here. If intercourse is consensual, then everything’s okay. After all, they see few problems among straight women. But if it’s not consensual then damage can occur. This statement seems to preclude the possibility that gay men can have consensual sex, doesn’t it?In fact, all three sources that Holsinger quoted from in this section (Bush, 1986; Geist, 1988; and Agnew, 1986)5 describe conditions that were found among men treated in emergency room settings. And much of evidence provided in the Bush and Geist papers were the result of sexual assault, not consensual sex.

Once again, it turns out that the Christianist Holsinger, who claims to be so religious and such a super Christian, is deliberately bearing false witness against gays. Funny how these folks think the Commandment against bearing false witness and lying does not apply to them. Holsinger is definitely NOT worthy of the position of Surgeon General. Moreover, he is not worthy of calling himself a follwer of Christ.